Conceptual Design of Small Scale Multi-Generation Concentrated Solar Plant for a Medical Center in Egypt

Small scale multi-generation solar plant is designed for a medical center building in Egypt. The plant consists of solar collector field of 120 kW peak thermal capacity, thermal storage tank with 3 tons of therminol-66 oil, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) of 4.3 kW nominal electric power production capacity, and thermally driven absorption chiller (TDC) of 35 kW cooling capacity. The present article reports on the plant layout, thermodynamic analysis, solar field design, ORC and TDC integration, thermal storage system, and control system and operation strategy. The plant is modeled and analyzed using parabolic trough (PTC) and Linear Fresnel collectors (LFR) at different operation modes in typical winter and summer days. The power output from the solar field in typical summer days results in simultaneous operation of the ORC and TDC using PTC for about 10 and 12 hr/day, respectively. The use of LFR solar collectors results in reduction in the operation hours of ORC and TDC by about 50% and 30%, respectively. Low power output of the solar collector field in winter allows for operation of the ORC unit only. Careful design and operation of the plant can increase the overall plant efficiency which improves its economic value. The effectiveness of CSP multi-generation plants is demonstrated thus promoting their wide adoption in the Mediterranean basin.